France — From Gradual WEU Integration to Full-Scale ESDP

Abstract

France differed from both preceding case studies to the extent that it was characterised by a high degree of consistency over time. The government preferred far-reaching proposals for the EU’s substantive scope in the mid-1990s, even more so during the Convention-IGC almost a decade later. At a simplistic level, one could say that France continuously wanted a great deal. The second major difference was that the government consequently focused on both high-intensity crisis management and the ‘EU-only option’. While neither Germany nor the UK completely opposed these functional tasks for the EU, at least after 1998, both placed a stronger emphasis on low-intensity crisis management and Berlin Plus arrangements. France’s view was that the Union should be essentially responsible for all functional tasks and thus evolve as a full-scale and dominant security institution.